Center for Grassroots Oversighthttp://www.historycommons.org
The Center for Grassroots Oversight aims to provide the public with a means to collaborate on investigations at the grassroots level.en-usApril 29, 2011: Employee Complains to Supervisor about BAE';s Intent to Sell Weapon System to Pakistanhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m042911meyerbaesys#m042911meyerbaesys
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m042911meyerbaesys#m042911meyerbaesysInactive reserve Marine sergeant and employee of BAE Systems Dakota Meyer , having learned from Bobbie McCreight that BAE plans to sell advanced thermal optics scopes--PAS-13s--to Pakistan , sends McCreight an email detailing his objections. In the email, Meyer states that BAE is planning to sell the better equipment to Pakistan while US troops are supplied with less effective equipment. He further states that the Pakistani military has been known to shoot at US soldiers and therefore it puts US soldiers at risk to sell Pakistan the better equipment. Meyer writes: "The reason I came on with BAE OASYS was to use the knowledge I had gained from the experiences I had while serving in combat operations to improve gear and make items to save the lives of US troops. This is where I could see me still 'doing my part' for the guys who are in the same situation I was in 18 months ago. I feel that by selling this to Pakistan we are doing nothing but the exact opposite. We are simply taking the best gear, the best technology on the market to date and giving it to guys that are known to stab us in the back. ... These are the same people who are killing our guys. ... I think that one of the most disturbing facts to the whole thing is that we are still going forth with the PAS-13 optic and issuing these outdated sub-par optics to our own US troops when we have better optics we can put in their hands right now but we are willing to sell it to Pakistan. This is very disturbing to me as an American and as a United States Marine."tmfgl2011-12-14T14:54:34-05:00April 2011: Employee Discovers BAE Systems'; Intent to Sell Weapon System to Pakistanhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m0411meyerbaesys#m0411meyerbaesys
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m0411meyerbaesys#m0411meyerbaesysInactive reserve Marine sergeant and employee of BAE Systems Dakota Meyer learns from his supervisor Bobbie McCreight that BAE plans to sell advanced thermal optics scopes, PAS-13s, to Pakistan. Meyer will send McCreight an email detailing his objections on April 29, 2011 .tmfgl2011-12-14T14:52:57-05:00May 2010: Marine Who Rescued Trapped Soldiers in Afghanistan Battle Receives Honorable Dischargehttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m0510meyer#m0510meyer
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m0510meyer#m0510meyerMarine Sergeant Dakota Meyer receives an honorable discharge from the Marines. He will later receive a Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in combat in Afghanistan .tmfgl2011-12-04T17:58:23-05:00September 8, 2009: Marines Rescue Trapped Troops in Kunar Province, Afghanistanhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m090809meyer#m090809meyer
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=m090809meyer#m090809meyerMarine Corporal Dakota Meyer ignores orders to remain in place and leads five forays into a ravine outside the village of Ganjigal, Afghanistan, after members of his column are ambushed by Taliban while attempting a meeting with the village elders. Meyer and Staff Sergeant Juan J. Rodriguez-Chavez, who are off to a flank and not inside the ambush, rush in and rescue several trapped American and Afghan soldiers after Captain Will Swenson of the US Army calls for artillery support and the request is denied. Meyer, Rodriguez-Chavez, Swenson, and others also retrieve the remains of three fallen Marines and one Navy corpsman. Meyer will later be given the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions and Rodriguez-Chavez will receive the Navy Cross. The event will later be examined and used as an example of the problems that can occur with the counterinsurgency theory that has been pressed upon the troops by the Pentagon. The villagers' betrayal to the Taliban, ambiguous lines of command, and refusal of help from nearby units will all been documented as the kinds of problems that enlisted soldiers typically face in Afghanistan.tmfgl2011-12-03T09:35:43-05:00July 18, 2011: US Study Finds Dozens of Civilians Killed in Drone Strikes in Pakistan over Past Yearhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a071811dronestudy#a071811dronestudy
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a071811dronestudy#a071811dronestudyA study by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism finds that dozens of civilians have recently been killed in strikes by US drones in Pakistan. The study examined US drone strikes in Pakistan between August 23, 2010 and June 29, 2011 and uncovered at least 10 individual attacks in which 45 or more civilians appear to have died. There were a total of 116 attacks in this period. The Bureau says it has identified and can provide the family names for six children among those killed. According to the Bureau, at least 15 additional strikes warrant urgent investigation, with many more civilian deaths possible. The study was drafted in response to claims in June 2011 by President Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser John Brennan that "there hasn't been a single collateral [civilian] death" in Pakistan since August 2010. The Bureau presented a summary of its findings to the White House and to John Brennan's office, and asked for comment. Both declined.KJF2011-10-30T14:35:17-04:00October 5, 2010: Al-Qaeda Hamburg Cell Member Is Killed by US Drone in Pakistanhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a100510mezichekilled#a100510mezichekilled
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a100510mezichekilled#a100510mezichekilledA US drone strike kills some suspected militants in Pakistan tied to an alleged plot to strike Europe, including an apparent member of the al-Qaeda cell in Hamburg that was involved in the 9/11 attacks. The strike kills eight people in Pakistan's tribal region. Naamen Meziche, a French citizen of Algerian descent and longtime German resident, is one of those killed. He had been under investigation since shortly after 9/11 for his connections to 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta, hijacker associate Ramzi bin al-Shibh, al-Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui, and others, but the German government was never able to get enough evidence to charge him with any crime. In March 2009, Meziche joined a group of Islamist extremists traveling from Hamburg to Pakistan for military training . Two other men from the group, Bunyamin E. and Shahab Dashti, are reportedly killed in the drone strike as well.Paul2011-08-30T10:57:26-04:00(11:30 a.m.) September 11, 2001: Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Says ';Things Have Gone Much Further than Expected'; in Monitored Callhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101furtherthanexpected#a091101furtherthanexpected
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101furtherthanexpected#a091101furtherthanexpectedAt around 8:00 p.m., Afghanistan time (11:30 a.m., New York time), Taliban leader Mullah Omar allegedly says, "Things have gone much further than expected." This is according to what the New Yorker will describe as "Afghan intelligence sources" who monitor the call. (It is unclear what "Afghan intelligence sources" means, since the Taliban control nearly all of Afghanistan at this time, but it could be a reference to Northern Alliance forces; the CIA gave them equipment to monitor the Taliban .) Omar's comment takes place over an hour after one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed, which means thousands have been killed in the attacks, not hundreds . An Afghan intelligence official will later say: "They were expecting a reaction. But they thought it would be a Clinton-type reaction. They didn't anticipate the kind of revenge that occurred." The "Clinton-type reaction" presumably is a reference to the August 1998 missile strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan during the Clinton administration .Paul2011-08-29T10:05:43-04:00(1:00 p.m.) September 11, 2001: Taliban Claim They and Bin Laden Were Not Involved in 9/11 Attackshttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101talibandenial#a091101talibandenial
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091101talibandenial#a091101talibandenialAt around 9:30 p.m., Afghanistan time (1:00 p.m., New York time), Taliban Foreign Minister Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil holds a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, and claims that the 9/11 attacks did not originate from Afghanistan. He reads a statement by Taliban leader Mullah Omar, which claims that Osama bin Laden also was not involved: "This type of terrorism is too great for one man," the statement says.Paul2011-08-28T07:03:58-04:00September 10-11, 2002: Al-Qaeda Safe Houses Shut Down in Karachi, Pakistanhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091002safehouses#a091002safehouses
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091002safehouses#a091002safehousesA suspected al-Qaeda operative named Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani is arrested in a safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, on September 10, 2002. He is a Saudi who later became a Pakistani citizen. Starting in 2000, he began running an al-Qaeda safe house in Karachi. He will be held in Pakistani custody until he is transferred to a US prison in Afghanistan in May 2004. He will be sent to the US-run Guantanamo prison in Cuba in September 2004. His driver, Muhammad Madni, is arrested too, and Madni reportedly quickly reveals the location of other safe houses in Karachi. Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani's brother, is arrested at one of the safe houses this same day. According to Abdul Rahim's 2008 Guantanamo file, he is an important al-Qaeda figure because he began running up to six Karachi safe houses, on behalf of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM), from early 2000 until his capture. According to his file, many important al-Qaeda leaders stayed at his safe houses and interacted with him or his brother while they were passing through Karachi, including: Saif al-Adel, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Khallad bin Attash, Saad bin Laden, KSM, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Musaad Aruchi, and Hassan Ghul (who is said to be his brother-in-law). Furthermore, 17 of the 19 9/11 hijackers stayed at his safe houses while coming or going through Pakistan, including Mohamed Atta, Marwan Alshehhi, Hani Hanjour, and Ahmed Alghamdi (the others are not mentioned in his Guantanamo file by name). Abdul Rahim does not admit knowing their mission, but says he picked them up at airports, kept them at safe houses, and transported some of them to their next destinations. He apparently is working on a plot to bomb Karachi hotels used by Westerners, but it is scuttled by the arrests. He is held by Pakistan for two months, then he will be handed to US forces and held in various prisons in Afghanistan until September 2004, when he is transferred to Guantanamo. The next day, these other safe houses are raided by the ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency). 9/11 hijacker associate Ramzi bin al-Shibh is arrested at one of the safe houses . However, in contrast to the claim that the arrest of Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani led to the arrest of bin al-Shibh and others, there is a claim that an Al Jazeera reporter, Yosri Fouda, interviewed bin al-Shibh and KSM in a Karachi safe house in the middle of 2002 , then told the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, where the interview took place, and the emir told the CIA. The CIA then began intensely monitoring Karachi for safe houses, which finally led to these raids . Hassan Ali bin Attash, brother of al-Qaeda leader Khallad bin Attash, is arrested at the same safe house as bin al-Shibh. Hassan will later be named by many other Guantanamo prisoners as an al-Qaeda operative, but not nearly as important a one as his brother. He will later say that he was held by the Pakistani government for a few days, then taken to Kabul, Afghanistan, by US forces for a few days, and then sent to Jordan and kept in Jordanian custody for over a year. He will be transferred to Guantanamo in January 2004, and where he subsequently remains. One other suspected al-Qaeda operative is arrested at the safe house with bin al-Shibh and bin Attash (located on Tariq Road). The three of them allegedly hold knives to their throats and threaten to kill themselves rather than be captured. But they are overwhelmed after a four-hour stand-off. At another safe house, there is a gun battle when it is raided. Two suspected al-Qaeda operatives are killed. One of those killed, Hamza al-Zubayr, is considered an al-Qaeda leader and the leader of the group in the house. The remaining six are arrested. All six will later be transferred to Guantanamo. All of the above is based on Guantanamo files leaked to the public in 2011 by the non-profit whistleblower group WikiLeaks. There are many doubts about the reliability of the information in the files .Paul2011-08-19T16:48:12-04:00February 7, 2002: Key Al-Qaeda Safe House in Karachi, Pakistan Is Shut Downhttp://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a020702karachisafehouse#a020702karachisafehouse
http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a020702karachisafehouse#a020702karachisafehousePakistani forces raid a safe house in Karachi, Pakistan, and arrest 17 suspected al-Qaeda operatives. All 17 will eventually be sent to the US-run Guantanamo prison in Cuba. One of them is Abu Bara al-Taizi (a.k.a. Zohair Mohammed Said), who attended the al-Qaeda summit in Malaysia in 2000 and was to be a hijacker for an Asian portion of the 9/11 attacks that never materialized. Al-Taizi will be handed to the US on February 27, and then transferred to Guantanamo a few months later. The safe house is run by Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi, a Yemeni commonly known as Riyadh the Facilitator. He is arrested as well, but he will not be handed to the US and then sent to Guantanamo until September 2004. Another Guantanamo prisoner, Hassan Ali bin Attash, will later say that he and al-Sharqawi were held in a Jordanian prison for over a year. That would explain most of the time between al-Sharqawi's arrest and his transfer to Guantanamo. The New York Times will later identify al-Sharqawi as one of the four most important al-Qaeda leaders captured in the first year after 9/11. According to al-Sharqawi's Guantanamo file, he joined al-Qaeda after fighting in Bosnia in 1995 and was closely linked to many al-Qaeda leaders. For a time, he even took part in weekly planning meetings with Osama bin Laden and others. In the summer of 2001, he began running the safe house in Karachi. His file says that he photo-identifies 11 of the 9/11 hijackers and provides varying amounts of information on each of them. He estimates that he helped over 100 al-Qaeda operatives leave Pakistan in the post-9/11 crackdown before his safe house was shut down. 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and hijacker associate Ramzi bin al-Shibh passed through his safe house in January 2002, a few weeks before the safe house is raided. As of late 2008, al-Sharqawi, al-Taizi, and nine others captured in the raid remain imprisoned in Guantanamo, while six others have been transferred out. Most of the above is based on Guantanamo files leaked to the public in 2011 by the non-profit whistleblower group WikiLeaks. There are many doubts about the reliability of the information in the files . The safe house was discovered because the Pakistani Army asked the public for leads on the movements of suspicious foreigners. Apparently one or more neighbors pointed out the safe house .Paul2011-08-19T16:47:06-04:00